Peace by Piece

There is no rainy day activity quite like sitting in a circle around a table staring at puzzle pieces. Apparently those among us with normal color vision do something with the pieces, I however am often relegated to staring and witty banter. The weather at The Disciples Center at Tawakoni this past week allowed for quite a bit of community building to take place around a rather elaborate puzzle complete with a sunset over the ocean and a particularly vibrant array of sea creatures.

This puzzle became the height of tension this week as those most committed to it raced the clock and a few ne’er-do-wells intent on making off with a few crucial pieces. (It must be noted that if a puzzle is the height of tension at a camp, it had to have been a fantastic week.) As the week progressed the handful of puzzle fanatics became increasingly focused on the task at hand, to the point where there had to be specific rules about when it was acceptable to work on the puzzle. The puzzle imagery even spilled over into the devotion station organized by the small group I had the pleasure of working with this week.

This extreme focus on a task that is seemingly insignificant and short lived made me wonder if this mentality could be transferred to issues of peace and social justice and what that might look like. I have no concrete answer but I’d like to think that this style of group oriented effort could reap benefits greater than any individual could hope to achieve. In the age of social media activism where liking something on Facebook is thought to be sufficient engagement by most, a group working in community, face-to-face, towards a single specific goal has become its own form of radical action. I like to think that a faith based on this principle would allow for each community – from a single block to an entire planet – to incite positive change. Each group could find where they mesh with those around them and reveal a greater picture.